changing seasons

Tomorrow we leave to take my son to North Dakota. Tonight we are eating ice cream, watching  a few of our favorite episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, talking books and laughing over silly (and stupid) things that only we would laugh about.

Like sharing our worries with pet rocks.

All of his stuff is packed and sitting on the floor of the living room and I'm just sort of denying that this is our last night together. We're doing all the things that we have done so many other nights.

What has occurred to me however, is that I have raised an amazing young man. Confident without being cocky, caring and smart. Not just book smart, but common sense smart. He's ready to fly. And I'm -I think- ready to give him a push.

I finished up a new design tonight and will edit it as I begin stitching next week. A change of seasons in my home, one that has more to do with emotion than the cooler temperatures that signal fall.

Now off to pack. And maybe give a glance to baby books and a pudgey faced little boy who even at the age of two was falling asleep with his feet up on the sofa and a book in his hands.